Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 49 Zhongshan wealthy businessman
Not long after, Jian Yong returned.

They also brought someone back with them; this person's name was Su Shuang.

This is the horse trader, a wealthy merchant from Zhongshan, whom Zhang Shiping introduced to Jian Yong.

Su Shuang was not a member of the Zhang family of Yuyang; he was a friend Zhang Shiping had made when he was trading horses.

During this time, Jian Yong entrusted Liu Bei's eighty horses to Su Shuang for care, but he hadn't had time to sell them yet, since the price still needed to be negotiated with Liu Bei.

The fact that Jian Yong brought Su Shuang along is enough to prove that Su Shuang is a reliable person, so both sides spoke very directly.

"This year, prefects and ministers from all over the country are collecting tribute horses, making it very difficult to acquire them. I, Su, would like to purchase all of your horses, sir. I wonder if you would allow me to pay in two installments?"

Su Shuang actually just wanted to discuss the settlement method: "I am a trustworthy person, and Jian Zei Cao can testify to that."

Jian Yong nodded in agreement: "Brother Su is so generous that he doesn't even want to charge for the expenses of helping to raise the horses."

"I'm currently raising military supplies and don't plan to sell warhorses... but Brother Su has helped me board the horses, so I should give back. How about we do business in a better way?"

Liu Bei certainly trusted Su Shuang's credibility, but the situation was different now, and he had to keep all the warhorses for his own use.

"Another way?"

Su Shuang glanced at the military camp by the Juma River: "Oh, military supplies?"

"No, don't misunderstand... What I mean is that the Juma River area will soon become a gathering place for horse merchants. I plan to build a bridge here and open a horse farm to buy warhorses. Brother Su, would you like to invest?"

Liu Bei pointed to a clearing at the bend in the river below the military camp.

That was the place where Zhang Shiping had tried to cross the river earlier.

There are river channels, mudflats, and large areas of gravel and wild grass, making it unsuitable for land reclamation and farming, but quite suitable for short-term horse breeding.

Why has this place become a gathering place for Malaysian merchants?

Su Shuang surveyed the terrain and thought that building a bridge would certainly be a good thing, but there was nothing here right now...

"This is the headquarters of the Protectorate of the Wuhuan, and next to it is the Xihe Market that Minister Lu's family is building. If horse merchants don't come here, or don't pass through here at all, they are either fools or horse thieves."

Liu Bei pointed to the military camp at the top of the hill and smiled slightly: "And the fool and the horse thief naturally cannot pass through Zhuojun territory unscathed, after all, this is a military camp... Brother Su, do you understand?"

Su Shuang swallowed.

I understand, of course a wealthy merchant who has been trading horses for a long time understands.

Liu Bei wanted to use his army to control the trade routes through Zhuojun, setting up roadblocks and bridges here to turn this place into a hub for horse merchants to transport horses to the south—anyone who didn't transit through here was likely to encounter some kind of accident on the way.

For example, an accident like Zhang Shiping's.

"Then, how can I, Su, become a shareholder?"

Of course, this kind of business should be done; Su Shuang wouldn't turn down money.

“You set up a horse farm here and buy horses to trade in the south; I will be responsible for building bridges, cracking down on horse bandits and ensuring the safety of the trade route... You get 30% of the profits, I get 30%, and the remaining 40% goes to Governor Zou’s troops.”

Liu Bei was also very direct, not hiding anything at all: "Brother Su must know that this is a hundred times more cost-effective than going to the border to collect horses."

There's no need to hide it; if Su Shuang isn't willing to do it, someone else will.

This is a fixed supply and sales channel. There is no need to find sources of goods or risk going to the border regions. You can simply intercept horses on the road and resell them in the south. Not only is there a continuous profit, but the risk is also minimal.

"Understood... I will go back and prepare money, food and fodder! Does Lord Liu need money to repair bridges and roads and raise military supplies? I am willing to provide some assistance."

Su Shuang's eyes lit up. He never expected that just helping someone raise a horse for a month would yield such a reward!
"Yes, of course we're short... but I can't accept something for nothing. If Brother Su is willing, I could donate some money and goods to Governor Zou's troops..."

Liu Bei declared himself to be an innocent and virtuous man: "After all, we all need the army to ensure our safety."

Sponsored by Malaysian businessmen?
Who would give any financial assistance for no reason? It's not like it's a support relationship between people of the same clan.

That's called profit sharing.

Also known as dividing the spoils.

……

Su Shuang was very sensible, and within a few days Liu Bei had a large sum of money. It was not only enough to pay the army's salaries, but also enough to buy a lot of meat to improve their meals.

They had money, food, and an army.

At this time, the Juma River camp had 800 new recruits, and more than 200 auxiliary soldiers were recruited to be responsible for building bridges, paving roads, and arranging transportation.

The weapons were barely enough, and there were sixty sets of armor, all of which were two-class armor and cavalry leather armor, but at least they were armor.

Eighty warhorses were returned by the wandering knights, but most of them did not join the army. They all had families or other attachments, and only about ten decided to become soldiers.

Recruiting is still ongoing, but the requirements have been raised. New recruits must be able to ride horses, which has slowed down the process considerably.

Liu Bei was not short of food for the time being; he still had three thousand bushels of grain on hand, which was enough to sustain the thousand or so people until after the autumn harvest, even if they ate as much as they wanted.

The new recruits were given plenty of food, and every day they could slaughter one or two pigs or three sheep, all of which were handled by Zhang Fei, whose family regularly bought pork and mutton from long-term suppliers.

Liu Bei never imagined that Zhang Fei would ultimately become a butcher...

He also became a cook, in charge of managing the cooks—the cooks under Liu Bei were not auxiliary soldiers. Duan Jiong tested the performance of his troops every ten days, and only the best-trained team was qualified to be cooks.

Zhang Fei must be sneaking food in the kitchen every day, which is why he's getting stronger and stronger. He can even butcher a pig by holding it down with one hand and stabbing it, without needing anyone else's help...

The soldiers were well fed; as long as they could complete Duan Jiong's training, each person could eat two ounces of meat every day.

This was a shared understanding between Duan Jiong and Liu Bei—new recruits needed to eat meat for their training to be effective; wolf-like courage and fighting spirit were cultivated through meat, while eating grass would only make them like cattle and horses.

This treatment is ridiculously good. No matter how tough the training is, no one dares to say a word against it, and they even take the beatings with a smile.

Of course, those who are lazy and try to shirk their responsibilities will definitely not get to eat.

The only problem was that Liu Bei was very clean and had extremely high hygiene requirements.

For example, people are not allowed to urinate or defecate anywhere, horse manure must be collected and disposed of in a unified manner, people with lice are not allowed to eat or sleep, no one is allowed to drink unboiled water, and people must wash their hands before meals and after using the toilet, etc.

There are a whole host of such bans.

If you violated the prohibition, the consequences ranged from minor tasks like building roads, bridges, and toilets to more serious offenses like being beaten with military rods. In the worst cases, you would not be able to eat meat or even food at all—compared to eating meat, being beaten with military rods was really nothing.

Liu Bei was in charge of the purse strings, which meant he controlled the food and military pay. No one dared to object to him, and they had to obey his demands, even Duan Jiong.

Duan Jiong felt that Liu Bei was using this method to quickly cultivate the good habit of obeying orders in the new recruits, so he cooperated very well.

Of course, the reason why Grandpa Duan has lived this long is also because he has always been a clean person.

Duan Jiong was also very skilled at training troops.

The elderly don't need much sleep and need to get up at night.

Every night when he gets up to use the restroom, he makes sure to have an emergency meeting.

This meant that even Duan Jiong himself didn't know when an emergency assembly would be held...

Duan Jiong's method of emergency assembly was to ride horses outside the camp in the dark and wake everyone up with the sound of their hooves.

The sound of horses' hooves is the drumbeat for emergency assembly; it's meant to instill a conditioned reflex in soldiers—a valuable lesson learned from Duan Jiong's twenty years of military service.

That is why, despite fighting hundreds of battles in his life, he was never raided by the Qiang cavalry.

After riding his horse around the military camp at night, Duan Jiong would enter the small drill ground in front of the main camp. Those who had not yet assembled at the drill ground by then would have to dig toilets, and there would be no meat to eat that day.

Digging toilets everywhere was Liu Bei's order. He did not interfere with Duan Jiong's training of troops, but only took care of logistical matters such as hygiene and food.

Duan Jiong's emergency assemblies were always conducted without fire; the lighting relied entirely on the moon. In the rush to put on protective gear in the dark, it was easy to get one's testicles stuck.

After doing this a few times, the new recruits stopped taking their clothes off when they slept.

During a nighttime military training exercise, Duan Jiong finally met the person he was waiting for.

Zhang Sheng.

(End of this chapter)